Saturday, 19 November 2011

Children in Need 2011Being the post-midnight stuff, of course, which this year was back to being mostly repeats unfortunately. Great total though -- the highest ever by over £5 million![Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

In the unlikely event anyone is curious, I've now decided to give up on Wilfred. Having watched the firstfourepisodes a while ago, I just don't care enough to spend another three-and-a-bit hours of my life watching the rest.

Science fiction is one of those genres that finds itself full of moustache-twirling megalomaniacs. While it may be fun to watch the scenery-chewing antics of the likes of the Master or Agent Smith, the best villain is one who's a little more complicated.

Apologies, because if you haven't read or seen Watchmen I'm about to massively spoil it.

Despite the fact "comic book villain" would likely be used as an insult to name an obviously villainous villain, there are actually a couple of great ones in that medium. Take Magneto, for instance, the primary villain in much of X-Men: he's the former best friend of heroic leader Charles Xavier and does what he does because he thinks it's the best thing for his maligned, oppressed race. Not exactly a villain for the sake of it, is he?

Ozymandias goes even further, perhaps. He starts the film as one of the gang of heroes; indeed, as far as we know, he is one for most of the story. But behind the scenes he's being A Bit Naughty, murdering people and plotting to change the world. Like all the best villains, he has a genuine goal he thinks is the right thing to do.

Unlike most, he wins.

How many villains can you think of that win? And not just "win for a bit... until the heroes defeat them", but win-win; win so that a new status quo is set up in which they have won; win so that the heroes except it and move on, rather than constantly plotting to overthrow the villain. And win cleverly, too: he doesn't describe his plot to the heroes while they have a chance of stopping it -- it's enacted 35 minutes before they even arrive.

That's why Veidt wins this -- because he succeeds; or, to put it another; is the best at it.

Read about a daily dose of sci-fi, with links to the rest of the series, here.